10 Incredible Asian Action Movies You Have To See Before You Die

From: Japan

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Based on Koushun Takami's brutal Japanese novel of the same name, Battle Royale aroused controversy on both the domestic and international stage upon release and was subsequently banned from being distributed in several countries. Such a reaction will always catch the attention of audiences seeking something a little more gratifying, and the film eventually went on to become a cult classic.

The story follows a boy named Shuya Nanahara, a junior-high school student who is struggling to come to terms with the suicide of his father. He is forced to put his grief to one side when his class are suddenly sent to a deserted island by government officials and given a map, food, and various deadly weapons. Only one of them will be allowed to leave, and that person is the last one alive.

The violence that ensues is the stuff of cinematic legend, making the suspiciously similar Hunger Games series look like children's TV. Limbs fly and heads explode as the death toll reaches numbers that would make Hollywood blush, yet this is far from torture porn. At its core Battle Royale is a parable of adolescence, flavouring an every-man-for-himself survival situation with heavy pinches of teenage melodrama.